Cross-country

THESE days, this sceptred isle seems a small place. Thanks to the M1, we can get from Leeds to London in little over three hours, traffic willing, and even the longest of journeys within the UK can be undertaken in a day by the determined motorist.

But in days of yore, when roads were fewer and pathways obscure, it was far harder to traverse the country.

In the four-part series, Britain’s Lost Routes, Griff Rhys Jones takes the road less travelled as he explores some of the nation’s forgotten routes.

Recalling a time before the car, when journeys were undertaken on foot, horseback, carriage or under sail, he retraces the routes our ancestors took, as they set out to cross the land – either by necessity, for pleasure, or simply out of curiosity.

He attempts to recreate the experiences they would have encountered along the way, considers the type of people they may have met and looks at the modes of transport that they used.

He begins by embarking on a Tudor adventure in which he retraces the route Queen Elizabeth I took through the Cotswolds and into the West Country. He winds through the heart of some of England’s most stunning countryside as he tracks her journey from Windsor to Bristol.

Rhys Jones takes a look at the sizeable baggage train that the queen took with her, tries some Elizabethan forms of transport and visits some of the stunning castles and stately homes she visited on her summertime journey – a trip that was as much about politics as it was about leisure.

He learns about the food and drink that would have formed the queen’s diet on the road, as well as how she slept and was entertained en route.

In order to get a sense of the landscape that the monarch would have enjoyed, Griff unearths the sort of Tudor architecture that she would have seen, and digs up first-hand accounts of her visits to the towns along the way, painting a picture of a queen who was adored by her public.

As the series progresses, he explores the passages undertaken by 19th Century drovers in the Highlands of Scotland, joins the crew of a Thames sailing barge, and embarks on a spectacular journey through the Welsh countryside as he retraces the steps that thousands of pilgrims made in medieval times from Holywell to St David’s.

WEDDINGS can be difficult affairs at the best of times, what with trying to please your inlaws, sorting out catering to please all the guests’ tastes and the like. Spare a thought, then, for those involved in the world of the Unification Church, known better to outsiders as the Moonies.

Married To The Moonies follows three British youngsters travelling to Korea to be blessed by their messiah – Reverend Moon – at one of the movement’s controversial mass weddings.

However, although the three share in common a condensed courtship (and are planning a future with a person they hardly know), they have extremely different situations.

Elisa plans to make her own wedding dress for big day, while a nervous 21-yearold Reamonn has been matched with a girl from Argentina and plans to meet his fiancee for the first time.

COMEDIAN Joe Wilkinson’s recent tour was a celebration of ordinariness, in which he poked fun at the fact he wasn’t from a broken home or suffered a troubled upbringing.

“I talk about how my parents are lovely and it’s their fault that I haven’t really done anything or got any experience to talk about, because if my dad was an alcoholic or something or my mum was wayward, I’d have a heartbreaking tale to tell, but there’s nothing,” he says.

That lack of personal angst hasn’t prevented him from giving memorable turns on sublime sitcom Him and Her, and tonight he’s Live At The Electric in a show featuring an ensemble of up-andcoming UK talent.

Hosted by Russell Kane, it blends stand-up routines, short films, sketches and music.